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Two seasons into the Kalen DeBoer era at Alabama, the Crimson Tide boast just one College Football Playoff victory. That isn’t quite good enough for what was considered THE gold standard during the Nick Saban era.
It doesn’t quite help that Alabama had to overcome a 17-point deficit to knock off Oklahoma in its First Round matchup, just to be flattened by eventual National Champion Indiana 38-3 in the Rose Bowl Game. It’s safe to say expectations are high for Alabama to win big in 2026, although it boasts one of the most challenging schedules in the sport.
Alabama is set to head to Kentucky in Week 2, in what will be the first home game of the Will Stein era in Lexington. Following that sneaky tough game, the Tide will look to avenge last year’s loss to Florida State before facing SEC opponents such as South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas A&M, LSU, Vanderbilt, and Auburn.
During Wednesday’s edition of The Paul Finebaum Show, ESPN’s Jordan Rodgers revealed that he’s leaning more towards Alabama being an eight-win team, rather than it being a 10-win team. This certainly would keep the Tide out of the CFP for the second time in three years of the DeBoer era.
“I have concerns (about Alabama),” Rodgers said. “I look at the schedule and I go, ‘man, the margin between eight wins and 10 wins is small’. And right now, I’m leaning towards thinking they could be an eight-win team. Just because of the unknowns.
“Now, we could get four weeks in and they could be 4-0, because the schedule lays out pretty well. It could be Keelon Russell that’s looking like a superstar, and we could absolutely change the narrative. It’s not all doom and gloom, but there are legitimate valid questions.”
Kalen DeBoer discussed returning atop the SEC at Media Days
At SEC Media Days on Wednesday, DeBoer was asked about what the Tide have to do return atop the conference. Through his first two seasons at the helm, Alabama has compiled a 20-8 (12-4) record, with back-to-back four loss seasons. Under Nick Saban, the Crimson Tide lost four or more games in a season just once (2007) from 2007-2023.
“We felt like we righted a wrong a little bit last year compared to the year before with some of the things we accomplished,” DeBoer said. “We also understand we fell short of our expectations internally. And so every area of the program just has to continue to improve. I guess that’s my experience over the years, is you can see what the bar is at and sometimes you can look and say you’re this close and sometimes you’re further away. Sometimes it’s the perspective and the way you look at it. A coach might look different than a fan or an analyst.
“But for us and the way I’ve accomplished it in the past is really challenge every group in the team wherever you’re at to improve. We got to address our weaknesses. Got to make be we continue to keep our strengths in order in who we are, understanding our identity, and continue to learn from those things that have happened to us both good and bad. Be better, you know, and focus on what we can control, and that’s the in next play, next moment, the next game, whatever is in front of us.”
Alabama opens its 2026 season at home against East Carolina on Sept. 5. The program hasn’t lost four or more games in three consecutive seasons since 1982-1984.
